The Bear will launch tomorrow morning in Berkshire and should come back down again a few miles southwest of there soon after.

Raspberry Pi Foundation spokesperson Liz Upton has helpfully compared the two space jumps. They differ in a few ways - one had a man, one has a stuffed bear, one cost £30m to put on, the other £300. They also differ in the length of the jump.

"Whilst this project won't be manned (just beared), and doesn't have the same sort of budget, it does aim to exceed Felix's flight in one regard - altitude - albeit by a mere 31 metres," said Akerman.

"The mission is now planned for Saturday 24th August. Babbage will be tied to the capsule using nylon cord running through a device that will release him at 39,000 metres, when he will descend with his own parachute".

The capsule is called Ursa Major and is marked with a "please return to..." notice, just in case it happens to fall on your car. We look forward to hearing how it went after the weekend.

"Both Babbage and Ursa Major will take and transmit photographs throughout the flight, except for two periods. The first is when they reach an altitude of 38km, when they will both take videos for 8 minutes (plenty enough time to reach 39km when Babbage will drop)," said Akerman. "They will also switch to video for their landings." µ